A Living Relic

Characters

• Piotr Petrovitch — a hunter and landowner: A hunting landowner who at sixteen secretly sighed for Lukerya and now does not recognize her.
• Lukerya — a gravely ill former house serf: A patient, deeply devout woman who accepts her fate without complaint.
• Yermolaï — the narrator's hunting companion: A practical guide who proposes spending the night at Aleksyevka.
• Vassily Polyakov — Lukerya’s betrothed, a former butler: A tall, curly-headed lad; after her misfortune he grieved, married Agrafena, and works as a neighbour’s steward.
• father Aleksy — the parish priest: He gives her the sacrament, jokes that she has nothing to confess, and once brought her a calendar.
• the little orphan girl — a village child who visits Lukerya: Fair-haired and quick; she brings wild flowers and has learnt four of Lukerya’s old songs.
• the village constable — the hamlet’s headman: He tells the narrator the village calls her “A Living Relic” and that nobody presumes to judge her.